Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
Studying Point-Select-Drag Interaction Techniques for Older People with Cognitive Impairment
UAHCI '09 Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Universal Access in Human-Computer Interaction. Addressing Diversity. Part I: Held as Part of HCI International 2009
Cursor relocation techniques to help older adults find 'lost' cursors
Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
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This paper describes how a standard optical mouse was augmented by the addition of a touch sensor inside the body of the mouse. When the mouse is released and subsequently touched it generates a Windows message which can then be used to execute an action. Three techniques were developed using the augmented mouse (nicknamed 'FieldMouse') to help older adult computer users find the mouse cursor when it has become 'lost': placing the mouse cursor at the center of the screen; wiggling the mouse cursor from side to side; displaying a flashing red ring around the mouse cursor. The techniques were compared in a pilot study to see which one was the most effective, and this would then be used in a later study to compare techniques of finding the mouse cursor. Following the pilot, the technique of centering the mouse cursor was chosen for the later study since it was the quickest to find the mouse cursor, without needing to search the entire screen.